Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

The Indian Health Service (IHS) FOIA Staff welcomes you to the improved Freedom of Information Act Requester Center! In an effort to make the FOIA section more user-friendly, the reader (YOU) will be provided with the basic information about the Program and how it works.

We hope you will find this site informative and that it will give you a better understanding of IHS’ public information programs. As part of the effort to make Federal agencies more transparent per President Barack Obama's Memorandum, we will continue to improve this site to bring you current program information.

After the implementation of President Bush's Executive Order 13,392[PDF - 99KB], Improving Agency Disclosure of Information, signed by the President on December 14, 2005, required Federal Agencies improve their FOIA process by providing the general public with the best possible tools to make FOIA requests, know who to send those requests to, and to receive a response from the Agency in a timely manner.

The Executive Order allows the IHS to streamline the FOIA process which not only assists the public (the requester) but also allows the Program Staff to be more efficient in their duties.